this is how ive got my programmer wired. ive seen a few different schems posted on here and it kinda confused me. does this wiring look right? i just want to make sure because i dont want to fry my only atmega8.1---sck2---mosi11---miso16---reset18---gndive attached pics of a little $50 board but without a power supply. it needs external +5V. i know theyre not too good but i only have an okayish camera. please no "go get teh f***kin neh camzz denz take teh photo" comments.

This reminds me some of the first AVR I played with. I built is as an all-in-one unit, though. I used a PC board like the one you used, but forced the D-25 connector onto the edge of the board. I wired from there to the AVR.

A parallel port on the motherboard of the PC (or on a card if they still make them that way) supports programmatically "wiggling" the parallel ports lines. A programmer/program then can make the parallel port act like the ISP signals that program the AVR.

A USB parallel port is only a printer interface.

I have to step away from my PC soon, but feel free to PM me and I'll try to get you set up.

I used #2. It is called "STK200" as it duplicated a wiring design for the Atmel STK200 development kit. The software I used was a BASIC for the AVR. A company called Kanda will supposedly let you download programming software if you register with them.

The #3 circuit is compatible with the PonyProg AVR programming software. In PonyProg you select a parallel interface: "AVR ISP I/O".

#4 Is used with AVRDude. (Used on Linux)

As I mentioned, use series resistors to protect the AVR and parallel port.

So ultimately you should pick the hardware circuit based on the programming software that you have or can obtain.

ahhh im still scared to put my chip into the socket and try but i will try today as its only $6 next time im getting the 8kb version as its only $3. but yea i hope to give it a try today. just one question. does it matter if i made the casing of the parallel port gnd? is there something else connected to it? im just very busy right now. ive got 5 assignments due next week (two of them monday) and i have yet to start them

ahhh im still scared to put my chip into the socket and try but i will try today as its only $6 next time im getting the 8kb version as its only $3. but yea i hope to give it a try today. just one question. does it matter if i made the casing of the parallel port gnd? is there something else connected to it? im just very busy right now. ive got 5 assignments due next week (two of them monday) and i have yet to start them

im running xp, its a port in the back of my pc that this connector fits into snugly and how do i check my bios settings?

When you power up your PC from being off, you have an opportunity to get into your bios setup. They are all different, but often you press the F2 key when you get the first visual text on your screen (before XP loads) to get into setup. Usually there is a selection in setup for on-board peripherals and a parallel port selection that allows for "standard" port. Wish I could be more exact, but it is all different for different PCs.